The Rings of Power introduced something that had been part of a Middle-Earth campaign I ran back in high school based on information from The Lord of the Rings’ appendices and The Silmarillion—there were five Istari, and the two Blue Istari disappeared into Rhun. I can’t remember much more than that, but in that campaign, the two Blue Istari returned, one taking Dol Guldor in Mirkwood and the other re-claiming Minas Morgul in Mordor at a time when the Reunited Kingdom was eating itself alive due to dynastic politics. So, this adventure is going to mimic that first adventure way back before even the first Lord of the Rings movies, when all we had was Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings and Rankin Bass’ Return of the King.
I’m thinking that the dying empire and the necromancer who is at the heart of this one-pager have a long history. In my thinking, the empire is the second rising of an ancient polity, and it had gained dominance after battling with an upstart kingdom led by a powerful enemy known as The Necromancer. Well, the emperors called them a necromancer, but they were more of a sorcerer. The emperor brought together a coalition of powerful nations under its leadership, defeated the sorcerer’s kingdom, and then forced itself on the coalition as a kind of overlord. That was two hundred years ago. The empire is falling apart as this story begins.
This is kind of a mystery, and much of it is finding more clues to the identity of The Necromancer at the centre of it. As the one-pager is intended for inspiration and outline rather than details, anyone running this scenario would probably add more clues than are mentioned.
Story
It’s a dark time of uncertainty. As the old king withers on the throne, his children squabble over the kingdom. Here, on the edges of kingdom, a collection of wanderers, warriors, and rogues come together in a trading town engulfed in terror. People are disappearing. The mornings after moonless nights, more are missing—sometimes entire families. The mayor and council are too busy playing politics to do anything, and as long as it doesn’t touch the families of the rich and powerful, the authorities don’t seem inclined to do anything. The PCs are drawn in for their own reasons, seeking answers to this deadly riddle.
Places
The Site: The rumours are that every moonless night, people vanish brings murders. The PCs will actually have a chance to examine the scene, as a family close tot hem disappears. Rumours spoke of markings in blood, which the PCs find. Any spellcaster (or perhaps academic) will recognize them and their import—these are dark runes of magic, last used by the Cult of the Undead King, who worshipped the ancient enemy known as the Necromancer. And the markings are made in blood—a person’s blood
The Citadel: Now a ruin in an all-but-abandoned quarter of the city, this was the fort that fostered the town. The imperial officers now live in expensive townhouses and work in the Urbis Curia. The Citadel is now the centre of the Cult of the Undead King, seeking to resurrect the Necromancer.
People
The Contacts: There are those in the town who can help the PCs—a sage who has encountered these runes before, some unhoused who have noted strange goings-on at the Citadel, and even witnesses from among the underclass who have seen strange, dark carriages staffed with people swathed in darkness on moonless nights. The contacts will help illuminate the PCs and given them clues—or interpret them. But their chatter will also alert the Cult of the Undead King to the PCs’ investigation.
The Count: The Lord-Mayor of the town is also an imperial count, distantly related to the ruling family. They are unimpressed with the PCs and disinclined to pursue murders that have only occurred among the underclass and have not yet disturbed the ‘good people.’
The Acolyte: This is an individual who has studied magic their entire life. They believe they are resurrecting The Necromancer of legend. They are not. That being has been discorporated and can never again appear in the material plane. Instead, this is the last of an ancient line of wizards drawn to the use of magics they thought extinct.
Events
The Encounter: As the PCs close in on the Cult, the Acolyte sends some of the Cult’s more brutal adherents to intimidate the PCs. When that doesn’t work, the next group will seek to persuade the PCs of the correctness of their efforts. Finally, the Acolyte and their most powerful adherents will seek out the PCs to kill them.
The Appearance: Before the Acolyte and the PCs have their climactic encounter, the ancient wizard arrives, seeking the Acolyte. The wizard’s failure to participate in the defeat of the Necromancer—even though the Necromancer was defeated—has left them resentful and angry, with too many years (centuries?) to nurse their bitterness. Will they seek to defeat the Acolyte as the last vestige of the Necromancer’s cult, or will they ally themselves with the cult, their bitterness having broken them?